By AGILE Consulting Engineers, Solar PV and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) specialists.
Future Made in Australia gets talked about as if it’s a single pot of renewable energy money waiting to be tapped. It isn’t. It’s a broad industrial policy package spanning tax credits for critical minerals and hydrogen production, national interest investment powers, and a specific grant fund administered by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and only some of it is genuinely relevant to a solar PV or battery manufacturing or deployment project.
Table of Contents
- What Future Made in Australia Actually Is
- The Innovation Fund: ARENA’s $1.5 Billion Grant Vehicle
- The Three Funding Priorities Explained
- The Production Tax Incentives, and Why Most Solar and BESS Projects Sit Outside Them
- How the Innovation Fund Application Process Works
- Where This Actually Intersects with Solar and BESS Projects
- What to do next
- FAQ
What Future Made in Australia Actually Is
Future Made in Australia (FMA) is the federal government’s broader industrial policy framework, first announced in the May 2024 Federal Budget, aimed at building domestic capability in industries considered important to the net zero transition and to national economic resilience. It’s a package rather than a single fund, and it includes several distinct mechanisms: production tax credits legislated through the Future Made in Australia (Production Tax Credit and Other Measures) Act, national interest investment powers exercised through bodies such as the CEFC, and grant funding administered by ARENA through the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund.
This distinction matters because a business searching for “Future Made in Australia funding” can easily land on the wrong mechanism. The tax credit elements are structured around large-scale critical minerals processing and green hydrogen production, sectors adjacent to but distinct from most solar PV and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) deployment or manufacturing projects. The part of the package most directly relevant to renewable energy technology projects is the ARENA-administered Innovation Fund.
The Innovation Fund: ARENA’s $1.5 Billion Grant Vehicle
The Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, administered by ARENA, provides up to $1.5 billion in grant funding to support pre-commercial innovation, demonstration and deployment of renewable energy and low emission technologies, as confirmed on ARENA’s program page (last updated May 2025, viewed August 2026). The fund is structured as an ongoing, open program rather than a single competitive round with a fixed closing date; ARENA has stated it will remain open until funding is exhausted or the program is closed.
According to ARENA, the Innovation Fund launched in December 2025 following a period of targeted consultation through March and April 2025 with market participants, consultancies and industry bodies, used to identify the industries and areas best suited to funding within the fund’s priority areas. Successful projects are expected to contribute to one or more of four broad outcomes: increasing uptake of relevant technologies through innovation and commercialisation, improving Australia’s capability to manufacture those technologies domestically, strengthening supply chains, or improving workforce skills and participation associated with the technologies.
The Three Funding Priorities Explained
As of August 2026, the Innovation Fund’s grant funding is allocated across three named priorities, and only one of them is directly about renewable energy technology manufacturing. Green Metals, covering iron, steel, alumina and aluminium production, has been allocated up to $750 million. Renewable Energy Technology Manufacturing (RETM) has received an initial tranche of up to $200 million, aimed at closing critical gaps in Australia’s renewable energy supply chains and building domestic manufacturing capability across key technologies such as battery components and solar supply chain elements. Low Carbon Liquid Fuels, covering sustainable aviation fuels and renewable diesel, has been allocated up to $250 million.
For a business working in solar PV or BESS manufacturing, component supply or related industrial capability, the RETM priority is the most directly relevant of the three, though projects in the Green Metals priority can also be relevant to renewable energy supply chains where they involve materials used in solar and battery manufacturing. Eligibility, sector definitions and specific opportunity guidelines for each priority should be confirmed against ARENA’s published guidelines rather than assumed from the priority name alone.
The Production Tax Incentives, and Why Most Solar and BESS Projects Sit Outside Them
The other major pillar of Future Made in Australia is a pair of production tax incentives that became law through 2025: the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive, worth $2 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced, and the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive, worth 10 per cent of relevant processing and refining costs for Australia’s 31 designated critical minerals. Both incentives apply to production occurring between the 2027 to 2028 and 2039 to 2040 financial years, for up to ten years per project, and are delivered as refundable tax offsets under the Income Tax Assessment Act rather than as competitive grants.
These incentives are significant for the businesses they’re designed for, but they’re specifically scoped to renewable hydrogen production and critical minerals processing and refining. A solar farm, a commercial battery installation or a solar component manufacturer does not automatically qualify simply because the project sits under the broader Future Made in Australia banner; unless a project directly involves eligible hydrogen production or critical minerals processing activity, these tax incentives are unlikely to apply, and the Innovation Fund grant pathway is the more relevant option.
How the Innovation Fund Application Process Works
ARENA has structured the Innovation Fund application process in two stages: an initial Expression of Interest (EOI), followed by a Full Application for shortlisted proponents. As of August 2026, ARENA guidance indicates a minimum 1:1 co-contribution is generally required, meaning applicants need to bring at least as much of their own or third-party capital to the project as they’re requesting in grant funding, and projects are expected to have reached at least Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3, broadly meaning the underlying technology has moved beyond pure concept and has some experimental proof of concept behind it. Activities funded under the program are expected to occur primarily within Australia.
Because the program is ongoing rather than round-based, there is no fixed application deadline to work toward, but businesses considering an application should still expect a rigorous assessment process, and ARENA has indicated it will run priority-specific webinars and publish detailed guidelines and FAQ documents to support applicants through each priority stream.
Where This Actually Intersects with Solar and BESS Projects
Put simply: a business manufacturing solar components, battery cells, battery packs or related supply chain equipment in Australia has a genuine pathway into the Innovation Fund through the RETM priority. A business simply installing solar or battery storage at a commercial site, without a manufacturing, supply chain or technology development component, is far less likely to be a fit for this particular fund, and should instead look toward the business-scale grant, tax incentive and CEFC finance pathways covered elsewhere in AGILE’s funding content. Future Made in Australia is, at its core, an industrial capability and manufacturing policy with a renewable energy technology component, not a general-purpose renewable energy deployment fund.
What to do next
Working out whether a project genuinely fits the Innovation Fund’s RETM priority, or sits better within a different funding pathway entirely, is often the first real decision point for a manufacturing or supply chain project in this space. This is the point where an early technical scoping exercise, mapped against ARENA’s published guidelines and TRL expectations, can save considerable time before an EOI is lodged. AGILE Consulting Engineers can help project teams work through the technical positioning of a renewable energy manufacturing or deployment project before they engage with ARENA.
FAQ
Is Future Made in Australia the same thing as the ARENA Innovation Fund?
No. Future Made in Australia is the broader federal industrial policy package, which includes production tax incentives and national interest investment powers as well as the ARENA-administered Innovation Fund; the Innovation Fund is the specific grant program within that package most relevant to renewable energy technology projects.
How much funding is available under the Innovation Fund’s Renewable Energy Technology Manufacturing priority?
As of August 2026, ARENA has allocated an initial tranche of up to $200 million to the Renewable Energy Technology Manufacturing (RETM) priority, out of the fund’s total allocation of up to $1.5 billion across all three priorities.
Does a commercial solar or battery installation project qualify for Future Made in Australia funding?
Generally not through the Innovation Fund’s priorities as they’re currently structured, which focus on manufacturing, supply chains and pre-commercial technology deployment rather than standard commercial installations; businesses installing solar or BESS at their own site should look at business-scale grant, tax incentive and finance pathways instead.
Is there a deadline to apply for the Innovation Fund?
Not a fixed one as of August 2026. ARENA has structured the fund as an ongoing, open program that will remain available until funding is exhausted or ARENA closes it, though this could change and should be confirmed on ARENA’s website before planning an application timeline.
What co-contribution is required for an Innovation Fund grant?
ARENA guidance indicates a minimum 1:1 co-contribution is generally expected, meaning applicants typically need to bring at least as much funding to the project as they are requesting in grant support, though specific requirements should be confirmed against the current program guidelines for the relevant priority.
Do the Hydrogen and Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentives apply to solar or battery projects?
Only if the project directly involves eligible renewable hydrogen production or the processing and refining of one of Australia’s 31 designated critical minerals; a standard solar or battery deployment or component assembly project would not typically qualify for these specific tax incentives.
